
Perris, California
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Alex McKenna
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By:
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Rachel Stark
About this listen
“This novel will live alongside classics of young womanhood.” —Susan Straight, author of bestsellers Mecca and In the Country of Women
In this unforgettable debut novel, twenty-seven-year-old Tessa, pregnant with her third child and living in a trailer on her mother-in-law’s property, encounters the woman she used to love—leading Tessa to question the very foundations of the life she’s built
Abandoned first by her father and then her mother, as a girl Tessa is left to live with her abusive stepfather and stepbrother. She survives by finding reserves of strength in herself, and by the surprising, transformative love of another teenage girl, Mel, who sees through Tessa’s tough exterior to the vulnerable, scarred, loving woman inside. When she suddenly loses Mel, too, Tessa stumbles into a saving grace of a different kind with Henry and his mama, Angie, becoming a mother and finding herself in a familial existence that somehow carries her into adulthood—until the day she runs into Mel, who has just returned to Perris after years away.
Filled with violence, tragedy, tenderness, longing, and the unvarnished courage of women living in a mostly unseen America, Perris, California is the utterly gripping story of Tessa’s journey from trauma to healing, and it introduces us to one of the most indelible female characters since Bone Boatwright in Dorothy Allison’s Bastard Out of Carolina or Ruth Langmore in Ozark.©2024 Rachel Stark (P)2024 Penguin Audio
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Critic reviews
“An emotionally charged portrait of two women’s painful family histories and their uneasy reunion in California’s Inland Empire . . . Fans of Dorothy Allison or Pam Houston ought to seek this out.”—Publishers Weekly
“An extraordinary debut that insists that we can—and must—mend each other.”—Kirkus (starred review)
“Some stories grab you, shake you to the core, and never let you go, demanding you to stare into the heart of human depravity and resilience. Other stories capture you by stealth, quiet beauty unfolding in ordinary moments: a conversation ’round a table, the unexpected smile of a neighbor, the wind on your face as you run. Harrowing, evocative, and deeply moving, Perris, California does both. Rachel Stark reminds us that in the smallest acts of kindness center the most enormous acts of love. This is a remarkable novel of human beings fully being—where what we do to each other sits side by side with what we do for each other.”—Sarah Blake, author of The Postmistress
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By: Robin Oliveira
-
All the World Beside
- A Novel
- By: Garrard Conley
- Narrated by: Pete Cross, Garrard Conley
- Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Cana, Massachusetts: a utopian vision of 18th-century Puritan New England. To the outside world, Reverend Nathaniel Whitfield and his family stand as godly pillars of their small-town community, drawing Christians from across the New World into their fold. One such Christian, physician Arthur Lyman, discovers in the minister’s words a love so captivating it transcends language. As the bond between these two men grows more and more passionate, their families must contend with a tangled web of secrets, lies, and judgments which threaten to destroy them in this world and the next.
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Couldn't listen to any more preaching!
- By Swellguy22 on 04-20-24
By: Garrard Conley
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Her Last Words
- By: Kim Kelly
- Narrated by: Caroline Lee
- Length: 11 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Thisbe Chisholm wants to be a writer. It’s 2007, a time of digital revolution and skyrocketing property prices, but she’s an old-fashioned girl. She longs only to tell the stories written on her heart. While her best friends, Penny and Jane, and her darling boyfriend, John, seem set for stellar careers in their chosen fields, Thisbe works nights as a hostess at a glitzy harbourside Sydney club - a job she despises but has paid the rent for the last three years since university graduation.
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Loved it!
- By hansenfamily on 03-09-23
By: Kim Kelly
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The Book of Essie
- A Novel
- By: Meghan MacLean Weir
- Narrated by: Robbie Daymond, Tara Sands, Erin Spencer
- Length: 11 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Esther Ann Hicks - Essie - is the youngest child on Six for Hicks, a reality television phenomenon. She's grown up in the spotlight, both idolized and despised for her family's fire-and-brimstone brand of faith. When Essie's mother, Celia, discovers that Essie is pregnant, she arranges an emergency meeting with the show's producers: Do they sneak Essie out of the country for an abortion? Do they pass the child off as Celia's? Or do they try to arrange a marriage - and a ratings-blockbuster wedding?
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Hope for the future 💗
- By Amazon Customer on 06-23-18
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Ways and Means
- By: Daniel Lefferts
- Narrated by: John Skelley
- Length: 16 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Young, handsome, intelligent, and gay, he hopes to escape his Rust Belt poverty and give his mother a better life by pursuing a career in high finance. But by the spring of 2016, Alistair’s plan has come undone: His fantasy banking job has eluded him, he’s mired in student debt, and in his desperation he’s gone to work for an enigmatic billionaire whose ambitions turn out to be far darker than Alistair could have imagined. By the time Alistair uncovers his employer’s secret, his life is in danger and he’s forced to go on the run.
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Wow!
- By Justin L. Conforti on 03-04-24
By: Daniel Lefferts
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Mrs. Gulliver
- A Novel
- By: Valerie Martin
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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It’s 1954 on far-flung Verona Island, a tropical paradise with a fragile economy and a rising crime rate. Prostitution is legal and Lila Gulliver is proud of her business, a high-end brothel where her clients are guaranteed privacy and discretion. When Carità Bercy, a young, destitute, and beautiful blind woman arrives at her door seeking employment, Lila decides to give her a chance. Carità proves a valuable asset to the house, as well as a psychological puzzle to her employer.
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Enjoyable read.
- By J Gentile on 06-07-24
By: Valerie Martin
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Dixon, Descending
- A Novel
- By: Karen Outen
- Narrated by: JD Jackson
- Length: 10 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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When Nate suggests that they attempt to be the first Black American men to summit Mount Everest, his younger brother Dixon can’t refuse. The two are determined to prove something—to themselves and to each other. Dixon interrupts his orderly life as a school psychologist, leaving behind disapproving friends, family, and one particularly fragile student. Once on the mountain, Nate and Dixon are met with extreme weather conditions, oxygen deprivation, and precarious terrain. But as much as they’ve prepared for this, Mt. Everest is always fickle.
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Well researched and throughly amazing
- By Lil Momma Reader on 04-03-24
By: Karen Outen
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The Chinese Groove
- A Novel
- By: Kathryn Ma
- Narrated by: James Chen
- Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Eighteen-year-old Shelley, born into a much-despised branch of the Zheng family in Yunnan Province and living in the shadow of his widowed father’s grief, dreams of bigger things. Buoyed by an exuberant heart and his cousin Deng’s tall tales about the United States, Shelley heads to San Francisco to claim his destiny, confident that any hurdles will be easily overcome by the awesome powers of the “Chinese groove,” a belief in the unspoken bonds between countrymen that transcend time and borders.
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A delightful surprise
- By R. Glynn on 02-01-23
By: Kathryn Ma
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The Brothers K
- By: David James Duncan
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 28 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Once in a great while a writer comes along who can truly capture the drama and passion of the life of a family. David James Duncan, author of the novel The River Why and the collection River Teeth, is just such a writer. And in The Brothers K he tells a story both striking and in its originality and poignant in its universality.
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Just couldn't go on
- By Susie B on 03-14-24
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Hard by a Great Forest
- A Novel
- By: Leo Vardiashvili
- Narrated by: Luke Thompson
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Saba is just a child when he flees the fighting in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia with his older brother, Sandro, and father, Irakli, for asylum in England. Two decades later, all three men are struggling to make peace with the past, haunted by the places and people they left behind.
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Evocative and deeply moving
- By 2Rivers on 04-11-24
By: Leo Vardiashvili
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Teddy
- A Novel
- By: Emily Dunlay
- Narrated by: Carlotta Brentan
- Length: 10 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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It is the summer of 1969 and Rome is awash with glamour and intrigue: the stars of Cinecittà are drinking and dancing along the paparazzo-lined Via Veneto, where royalty, American expats, and the occasional Russian spy rub shoulders. Teddy Huntley Carlyle has just arrived in Italy from Dallas, Texas, eager for a fresh start with her new husband, a diplomat assigned to the American embassy. After years of “spoiling like old milk,” in the words of her controlling, politically minded uncle, Teddy vows to turn over a new leaf.
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Good narrator, annoying main character
- By pietari on 09-19-24
By: Emily Dunlay
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Brilliant, Brilliant, Brilliant Brilliant Brilliant
- Essays
- By: Joel Golby
- Narrated by: Joel Golby
- Length: 7 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Joel Golby's writing for Vice and The Guardian, with its wry observation and naked self-reflection, has brought him a wide and devoted following. Now, in his first book, he presents a blistering collection of new and newly expanded essays - including the achingly funny viral hit "Things You Only Know When Both Your Parents Are Dead." In this audiobook, he travels to Saudi Arabia, where he acts as a perplexed bystander at a camel pageant; offers a survival guide for the modern dinner party (i.e. how to tactfully escape at the first sign of an adult board game); and more.
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Definitely a five (5) star audiobook experience
- By Manatee on 03-20-19
By: Joel Golby
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The Wildest Sun
- A Novel
- By: Asha Lemmie
- Narrated by: Imani Jade Powers
- Length: 8 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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When tragedy forces Delphine Auber, an aspiring writer on the cusp of adulthood, from her home in postwar Paris, she seizes the opportunity to embark on the journey she's long dreamed of: finding the father she has never known. But her quest—spanning from Paris to New York’s Harlem, to Havana and Key West—is complicated by the fact that she believes him to be famed luminary Ernest Hemingway, a man just as elusive as he is iconic. She desperately yearns for his approval, as both a daughter and a writer, convinced that he holds the key to who she's truly meant to be.
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delightful, quirky story!
- By Redpen on 03-08-24
By: Asha Lemmie
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The Truth According to Us
- A Novel
- By: Annie Barrows
- Narrated by: Ann Marie Lee, Tara Sands, Julia Whelan, and others
- Length: 18 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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In the summer of 1938, Layla Beck's father, a United States senator, cuts off her allowance and demands that she find employment on the Federal Writers' Project, a New Deal jobs program. Within days Layla finds herself far from her accustomed social whirl, assigned to cover the history of the remote mill town of Macedonia, West Virginia, and destined, in her opinion, to go completely mad with boredom.
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Not the Potato Peel Pie Society...
- By Blue on 06-15-15
By: Annie Barrows
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Song of a Captive Bird
- A Novel
- By: Jasmin Darznik
- Narrated by: Mozhan Marnò
- Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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All through her childhood in Tehran, Forugh Farrokhzad is told that Persian daughters should be quiet and modest. She is taught only to obey, but she always finds ways to rebel - gossiping with her sister among the fragrant roses of her mother's walled garden, venturing to the forbidden rooftop to roughhouse with her three brothers, writing poems to impress her strict, disapproving father, and sneaking out to flirt with a teenage paramour over café glacé. During the summer of 1950, Forugh's passion for poetry takes flight - and tradition seeks to clip her wings.
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I really wanted to love this book, but...
- By Susan on 06-25-18
By: Jasmin Darznik
What listeners say about Perris, California
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Payam Saadai
- 06-19-24
Beautiful and gripping
Beautifully layered narrative which will grip you to the end. Wonderful storytelling with strong female characters who have surprisingly touching and complex relationships with each other. The story unfolds towards a very satisfying ending, and I wanted to read it again the moment I finished.
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- nursesharktank
- 04-09-24
Sadness
Her confrontation , too easy on the step dad. Sad how some kids are mistreated but that she was so resilient- but I felt that was rare.
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- Donna
- 06-18-24
Great story - Terrible Narrator
I enjoyed the story behind this book but it was almost ruined by a grating narrator. I don't mind a raspy voice sometimes, but after a few hours of listening to it, it becomes unpleasant. This was especially true of the children's voices. They were so irritating and whiny I found it hard to like the kids. And they seemed like nice kids.
Aside from that, it was a sensitive treatment of a woman's difficult life and complicated emotional relationships.
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- Sarah Lamb
- 05-20-24
Love prevailing in a challenging life.
This story shows the reader how we humans and our families are complicated and complex. But also how challenging and difficult a humans journey can be. It tells the story of a young woman, Tessa, who goes through many unspeakable events in her life but she continues to be a fierce fighter. In the end she becomes the mother she wanted herself. There are many great characters brought to life by the author Rachel Stark. I can see this book as a great and heartfelt movie that brings the audience to realizations of their own life experiences and families.
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- Amazon Customer
- 12-04-24
Sat in my car for an hour, just to finish the book.
Really great story! Some hard parts to get through, but that is life. The characters are very relatable. Lots of variety in this book, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
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- April S.
- 08-08-24
Gripping Story!
This book was alternately heart wrenching and uplifting and will bring you to tears one moment and have you laughing out loud the next. It follows a young woman and her family as they all struggle with the events of their lives both present and past and how they all fit together both as individuals and together. It gave me vibes of Hillbilly Elegy, as the struggles of poverty are present but it was the people that stole my breath with how they dealt with their problems. These characters will be living in my brain for a while I am sure! Alex McKenna knocked it out of the park with this narration! Her voice completely brought these characters to life for me! I will definitely be looking for more books by Rachel Stark and books narrated by Alex McKenna!
So Freaking Good!
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- Daniel Flynn
- 08-28-24
Beautifully written
This book is wonderful. It’s heartbreaking but also so lovely. I loved everything about this book.
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- Maryanne T.
- 08-23-24
Authentic, heartbreak, redemption
5 stars for Perris, California. This book was highly recommended by a podcaster I follow who felt it deserved some attention. I agree wholeheartedly. With such a strong recommendation I went into Perris completely blind and wasn't quite sure what to expect. It's really the story of one woman, Tessa, and the crap hand of cards that were dealt to her as a young girl and her own strength and spirit and survival into womanhood. It's not a plot heavy read, although the book opens with an explosive scene and sucks you in immediately and makes you want to know what happens with this woman. I loved Tessa. She is about as authentic a character as you are ever going to get in fiction. Her raw honesty and commitment to her truth really cannot be championed enough. The author, Rachel Stark, gets high praise for writing a character who is just so beautifully transparent in all of her imperfect quandaries ~ she's not sure she wants another baby even though her husband is over the moon; she may have to choose revenge over doing what's right and lose everything; she never got over her first love and freely admits she doesn't think she will love anyone else in that way. And, the relationships in this story are so thoughtfully developed, too. In particular, the relationship with her mother in law, Angie, is SO deftly drawn. Stark portrayed the complicated, messy, beautiful, fragile and equally stone solid relationship between mother and daughter in law with such acute tenderness I could personally feel the boundaries being crossed, the tension, the angst - all of the feels. And, ALL of the characters in this book are handled with love and care. This book is almost immediately immersive and reads like you know these people. I always say, when you feel like you miss a character once the book has ended- the author has done a good job. I will mention, there are a few brutally tough scenes you have to get through and I was anxious going into those even though I have no history of trauma personally. So, be aware of your triggers. I was prepared to skip if I needed to but never found I had to. I would recommend this book to just about anyone because it is just so good. But in particular if you want to read a story with a strong female protagonist who survives a traumatic past and is able to love and rebuild - this is your book. I think it is also for readers who appreciate found family stories and dysfunctional family drama - both on small scale and grand scale. I personally did not care for the narrator. I hate criticizing someone's voice but it was way too gravelly for me. Sort of sounded like she was getting over a cold or had smoker's cough. But the book was incredible.
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- LaAnd
- 01-13-25
Get ready to cry!
This book will tear at your heart! I could not stop listening to it. It’s raw and well written and told. I highly recommend it!!
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